The evening prior to the return of the Capsule spaceship, on August 27th, Tora confided in Trunks that the Cyborgs in her 767 were alive, and she let them live due to them being more humane and kind hearted than she was. She had already explained that unlike her 784-world, this 787-world, or the 767 lost world Trunks visited, in her 767, a third Android had been activated on May 12th.
"I didn't know how to approach the subject, I'm sorry, Trunks," she sought forgiveness for keeping that information to herself. She was sincere in her apology, but she didn't look down.
Their iced eyes were always locked on each other whenever they talked. It was hard not to flinch, and it was even harder to keep it together due to the uncanny 'this isn't a mirror this is someone that looks like me' jolts of panic still striking them sometimes, but over their past forty or so days together, they slowly got used to the eerie feeling their simultaneous existence caused.
Trunks initially felt anger, how could any version of him let the Cyborgs live? but he realized he would have acted the exact same way with the same information, and he knew Tora knew how he would react, which was why she'd kept it all unspoken. As such, Trunks decided he wouldn't be a hypocrite and his anger died. He stared across the dining table to get more answers, more details, more reasons.
"I can't be sure why things ended up so different… Was it because of Sixteen, or perhaps because your Time Machine and Cell, burrowed somewhere, had been around? Regardless, the twins didn't rampage, didn't kill anyone but their maker. When they were activated, they ignored everyone and just went on their way until Vegeta-san provoked them. And Eighteen fought him alone." Tora knew Trunks was aware of how important and meaningful that was. The twins always fought together, which is why when either of them fought them, with and without Gohan, they always lost. Trunks got the message, taking it all in with a severe expression.
She proceeded to describe and tell the story, from the encounter the moment she arrived on May 12th 767 to the Cyborgs going radio silent, then a little about Gero's diary (she hadn't read it, just got the gist of it from Dr Brief, Bulma and Krillin in passing) and the picture of them taken by 'someone who works with runaways'. Then how they all fought Cell. She didn't get the details concerning what happened at the moment of Seventeen' absorption, but Piccolo did mention the Cyborgs weren't allies with Cell, just 'food' and they absolutely did not want to be absorbed. Trunks dropped the initial anger and disbelief in favor of putting himself in her shoes, if anything, the two of them had been able to defuse potential conflict easily, due to being empathetic and able to understand the fundamental way each other thought through things. Their similar experiences and the choices they each made under different circumstances was a great way to see it all from the other's perspective.
"If the Eternal Dragon brought back Seventeen to life, that Seventeen was considered a good person," then she concluded, trembling. "But I wasn't, because something happened when I died.. I think I was meant to end up in Hell, or worse. I remember being a prisoner..."
'Me too, else I would have seen Gohan-san…' Trunks thought quietly. The two of them had wanted to see their mentor when they first realized they had died, but something didn't go as expected. They both hated not knowing, and that lingering feeling of having been prisoners of something warm, kind, but also incredibly dangerous didn't sit well with them.
Tora then explained how she met with the Cyborgs afterwards, after Gohan had destroyed Cell. The Cyborgs sought Sixteen, who wasn't brought back to life because unlike them, he was a fully artificial creation, an Android. Their sadness and anger was real, their loathing of Cell and what they experienced within him too, and Tora explained with as much detail the changes she knew from the Cyborgs in 784 and those she was talking about. They had emotions, they cared for someone else... She told Trunks how she took them back to the person who once helped them as runaways, prior to them becoming Cyborgs. That man, Mika, was to give them a chance at a peaceful life, not as the humans they once were, but perhaps something similar.
"Vegeta-san and Gohan-san can destroy them if they even look at someone the wrong way, and without Goku-san around, they have no reason to fight anyone…" Tora sighed, she was uncertain, but her heart told her she made the right decision.
"The behaviors you've described both sound like them, and totally not like them, " Trunks agreed it was a mindfuck. The banter, the quips, the attitude, the stupid nicknames all were familiar.. But the fears, the reserve, the compliance, the respect for life did not sound like the Cyborgs he knew, at all.
"Krillin-san saw humanity in them, and even inside Cell, they seemingly tried to help us at the cost of their own existence. Sixteen.. Sixteen was good. It was thanks to him that I improved, and it was him who helped Gohan-san destroy Cell."
Gohan had told her how Sixteen's head was thrown his way during that fight, and his words about defending nature and the beauty of the planet was what pushed him over the edge, giving in to super Saiyan and ascending. Having explained that to Trunks previously, Tora had tried conveying that mindset, as well as her 'not letting Gohan-san die ever again' which had her ascend as well, even if for a split second. Getting to control it was what she was trying to work on. She could summon it, but not control it. Trunks couldn't reach that yet, even if his mastery of super Saiyan didn't rely on painful memories anymore.
"I trust your judgment. It is the 767 you are involved in, after all." Trunks felt no remorse for the 767 Cyborgs he and the warriors from the past destroyed, nor for the ones he killed in his own world.
Tora then explained how she thought one of the reasons she survived Cell once it reached perfection, at least according to Cell's own words, was because Seventeen had a crush on her. Which Seventeen himself confirmed. It took Tora a solid hour to explain everything without reserve, going into details about Sixteen's recorded message, the twins' strange behavior compared to the one time she met them when Eighteen fought Vegeta (admittedly that first encounter had been short), their acceptance of alternate selves, and the theory that Goku being alive and Sixteen keeping them focused on that goal, perhaps explained why they hadn't rampaged, contrary to Trunks' 767 experience (no Sixteen, early rampages). By the time she was done, she had drunk another full can of juice and snuggled against Trunks on the couch.
"I should feel offended about Seventeen being in love with you." Trunks had to twist the knife, he knew Tora would do the exact same if the roles were reversed, and Tora tensed at the light jab, but decided to strike back.
"His flirting is terrible, but not as bad as yours." Tora taunted lightly, sliding her hand under her alternate self' white tank top to enjoy a little more physical contact.
"It can't be worse than yours," Trunks shot back, pulling the tucked-in shirt out of the belt and touching her back underneath it, happy to give in to the intimate contact. It wasn't that different from the proximity either of them had with their respective mothers.
They were both disasters, but at least they knew each other enough to laugh at their own stupid mindsets and jabs. After all, if one was offended, the other would be too. The advantages of being the same, but different… It was as if they had been living together for a thousand years, even if it had only been a few weeks.
"Well for what it's worth, if they weren't murderous sadistic monsters, I would have found them pretty hot too. The both of them," Trunks admitted easily. He would have never said it out loud, if it hadn't been Tora.
"You're disgusting," Tora pinched his cheek at the boldness, face a little too close to his when trying to shame her alternate self for such admission. Boundaries were meaningless.
"I've had a couple of years to move on from that trauma," he pinched back. "And considering how you're talking about him, you're considering it. You have not refused his advances, soo..."
"Shut up."
"His poor heart," Trunks chuckled and squirmed when Tora retaliated with a nail scratch on his ribs.
"That is exactly why I am not giving anyone any hopes. I will return home and destroy them, and enjoy peace. I do not want him to go after the baby twenty years from now," she added.
"So selfless. Not enjoying the moment, but thinking ahead, mindful of the consequences and the impact you leave behind." Trunks admired his younger version.
"Someone has to do it," she grumbled, then sighed and stretched a little under the touch. "I had the advantage of knowledge, and being different from the baby has made me more cautious.."
"I get it. Finding my Time Machine most certainly changed your understanding of things."
"An understatement. It's strange, really, Seventeen complied with my requests when I met with him and Eighteen. I got them both to shower and change, and he tied his hair when I asked."
"No doubt about it then, he caught feelings." As much as Trunks joked about it, Seventeen changing his appearance because he was asked to was surprisingly out of character. They truly were different.
"Well I was pretty serious about it, and armed."
"Always obey the girl with the sword."
"Smartass. But I don't think they would have acted any differently if I had been weaker than them. Truth is they called me out on attacking them for no reason. That was when I decided they had a point and deserved a little.. understanding."
"You've got a good heart."
"No, I don't. It was calculated.. Mostly because he and Eighteen know I'm a girl. Sixteen told them. He had a radar and recognized I was wearing a binder."
"Ah! So you showed good faith and extended an olive branch so they'd keep quiet." If there was any strength to either version of Trunks, it was their ability to quickly assess a situation and make the best possible decision considering the circumstances and the information they knew. They were both bright like that, something Bulma said was a combination of hers and Vegeta's best traits.
"Yes, somewhat. The baby is a boy. The twins think I am trans, though."
"What's 'trans'?" The Brief brain wondered, chasing away the initial shock of finding out that besides these Mika and Syowa people, the Cyborgs, arguably their sworn enemies, knew Tora's well kept secret.
"When your mind tells you you are a girl or a boy, but your body doesn't reflect that. The fabric binders I wear are meant for people whose body is female, but who feel like they're men up here," she pointed at her head to mean her brain. "At least that's what I understood."
"Well, are you? " Trunks asked as he pulled the other and laid properly on the couch, properly wrapping his arms around the other and gently rubbed the back of her head to give reassurance, pushing her longer hair out of the way.
"Would it have been a problem for you ?" Tora shot back with a knowing smile and snuggled herself closer with an appreciative hum, hiding her face in his neck.
"Not really," Trunks shrugged and confirmed what they both knew already, even if the whole ordeal was weird, he knew he appreciated Tora as a person, regardless of how she thought of herself. She gave another thought about her identity.
"I honestly just don't care how people see me. I've been addressed as male and female most of my life. I see myself as a girl, and I am comfortable in my body, but I'm not exactly girly," she vaguely indicated herself, meaning her clothes, her attitude, her far from feminine attitude.
"I was never addressed as a girl, but I am far from being as masculine as other men either," Trunks commented, pondering how different their existence must have felt even if they went through mostly the same life. "You think your Cyborgs know?"
"No, Eighteen would have killed me if she knew, and Seventeen's jabs.."
"A shame, really, that they didn't turn good in our worlds," Trunks concluded. All Cyborgs he met were destroyed, and a hint of remorse hit him when considering the humans they once were.
"Yes, a shame." Tora agreed.
Unlike his younger self, Trunks had perhaps a little more hesitation and heart in him. A year with Vegeta and his subsequent betrayal had hardened Tora's resolve. No mercy. The following day, Tora would resume binding and soon afterwards, she would be gone from his world forever, and while Trunks was eager to see his mother again, he wasn't sure if he was ready for Tora to leave, after the intense month and a half they spent together.
August 28th came and the landing time and place were communicated for late evening, the two finished preparing the Compound, properly cleaning everything, and Tora moved back to her room, capsulized her belongings as she usually did when not using them. Trunks stocked up on supplies in the morning while Tora prepared some place for Krillin, Gohan and Dende to sleep in, as the Machine hadn't finished charging they were going to stay until it was ready. When the time came, the two of them took a moment to verify they wore the same clothes, the same exact way. Straight washed-off jeans, an open button-up short sleeved shirt and a tank top underneath. They promised themselves Bulma would get her comeuppance for her comments. Tora was still a little shorter than her counterpart, but nothing that would be noticed unless they stood still close to each other. While Tora refused to cut her hair short for maximum effect (since he couldn't grow it as long as hers that fast), Trunks was allowed to trim it. Tora's hair which had grown past her ribcage now barely reached under her shoulders once more, and the poor excuse of a long bob she once had about six month ago now looked somewhat decent thanks to the clean undercut. A cap would hide that difference. Tora cleaned Trunks' undercut as well; his hair reached the middle of his ears, so she didn't trim it, mostly because she had no idea how to.
They both made sure the surveillance systems were back on for the time they'd be out to meet with the gang, checked the Time Machine's charging station, and flew to meet the astronauts, taking both their cars for the trip.
When the Gravity Room landed in the grass fields, two earthlings, one half-breed and one Namekian stepped out and stretched, finally home and outside not anywhere inside those close-quarters. Krillin capsulized the ship once they were all out; they'd take out their belongings once in West City. And then Bulma pointed at the pair of twins getting closer to meet them now the landing area was safe to approach.
"Those little tricksters, look at them!" The energetic mother of one of them ran to them, and the two grinned, one resisting the urge to hug his mother close. Keeping their kis in check was another challenge, even if they both spiked with joy as finally they were all back.
"Welcome back," one said warmly. The backwards red cap both of them sported had a few lavender hair strands visible from their foreheads. Bulma had dubbed those Trunks' little antennae as he always had them.
Krillin, Gohan and Dende approached too to see what it was all about, and Krillin chuckled.
"Oh you kept saying they were your twins, look at them, they got you good."
Dende shook hands with one then the other when formally introduced, while Bulma looked at her son and her other son with suspicious eyes.
"Thank you for accepting becoming Earth's Guardian, Dende," one thanked warmly. The two of them heard a lot about Dende from Bulma and Gohan's tales, but only one of them had met a past version of the Namekian.
"Thank you for having me," Dende was unsure if the one whom he was speaking to was the native one, so his voice wasn't that confident, but the one he spoke to was welcoming.
"You could only differentiate us because of our hair, so now is your test, which one is the son you gave birth to, and which one is a dirty impostor?" a Trunks shot to Bulma once Dende moved on to greet the other.
Gohan stared at the whole situation, he wanted to jump into Tora's arms so badly, but everyone else looked lost at the test announced, which made him confused too.
"How can you not tell?" he quietly asked Krillin while the native Bulma walked around her 'two children'.
"You can tell?" Krillin was wide-eyed, the two young adults got him good. "They're identical because they're only two years apart, only 784-Trunks has longer hair."
Gohan looked at his dad's best friend with wide eyes. He really couldn't tell? He then looked at Dende, who shared a similar issue; he hadn't met either of them before, but on camera and on some of the pictures Bulma showed them during their trip back, he, too, could only differentiate them because of their different haircuts.
"Alright, I think this one is mine," Bulma tugged at the hand of one of the identical young adults, and while there was no resistance, there was no rejection either. Bulma felt hesitation when looking at one, then the other, recognizing both intense gazes as 'her son's', then changed her mind.
"No, it has to be this one," she went to the other, grabbed his hand and showed a little flat, barely visible mole between two fingers. "Yes, that's my Trunksie."
The one that wasn't chosen quietly chuckled. "Is this your final decision?"
Bulma pulled her hair out, she doubted, she was being played, and she loathed it, and the pair of Trunks wasn't going to let her live it down. "Let me consult with my advisors," she conceded, and went back to Gohan, Krillin and Dende to try and come up with a strategy to find out the truth.
The two Trunkses high-fived their successful plan and would not give in anything for Bulma to guess.
The four space-travelers put their arms on each other's shoulder, forming a circle, to talk strategies and discuss options to solve this incredible puzzle, out of prying ears of the mischieving young adults.
"You really can't tell either, Bulma-san?" Gohan was baffled. How didn't they see it?
"Well I might have raised one for twenty years, but another me also raised that other one for seventeen years. They're identical," she whined. "They cross their arms the same, they stand the same…"
"They're different.." Gohan was assertive. On the video calls he too sometimes got confused, because the video didn't show as many details as he could see in person.
"You can tell?" Bulma hoped Krillin and Dende had ideas, but they didn't, so Gohan visibly knowing gave her hope to save face.
"Yes, they truly are different…" Even from afar, he could tell.
Bulma sighed and conceded defeat. She truly couldn't tell. The circle broke, and she made an 'I see you' sign towards the inquisitive Trunkses watching a few yards away.
"Fine, you win, rascals, I am not able to pick you two apart with a satisfactory degree of confidence, but I do call upon my champion. Gohan-kun!" She made a show of passing over the 'torch' to her chosen representative.
Both Trunks glanced at each other, one didn't expect that, but the other did. Then stayed still as Gohan approached with a certain confidence. As much as he was sure of himself, he suddenly felt perhaps it was presumptuous of him?
He didn't have time to doubt and while he closed the distance, Gohan glanced at one and the other, but his eyes were mostly on the one he thought he knew. And without even hesitating, he clutched his target, arms around the waist of the one he had identified as Tora, and hugged close, breathing in the tobacco-free scent and feeling the contact he had craved for almost three months. It took all of that Trunks' willpower not to reciprocate, but appreciated how Gohan's forehead rested in the middle of the sternum, the spiky hair tickling the chin. The strength the boy gave was also comforting, Gohan didn't go full bear-hug, but didn't restrain himself either.
"This one is Tora-san," Gohan eventually parted ways, a little red and ashamed at the display of affection. Having felt the armor underneath only confirmed his guess. He then took a few steps towards the other Trunks. "And this one must be Trunks-san. Pleased to meet you at last," he added with a warm but shy smile, extending his hand, which was accepted by the intrigued young adult with a raised eyebrow. The following handshake was awkward.
The fake twins stayed silent, then eyed back at each other, and the one whose hand was shaken gave a light punch on the arm of the one that was hugged.
"Damn you," the one who punched sighed in defeat.
"Sore loser, dishes are on you," the punched one smiled smugly at her older counterpart, then opened her arms again for Gohan. "As expected of Gohan-san."
Gohan was quick to hug again and this time he was hugged back. Tora was happy to feel the wild Son mane under her fingers, giving reassuring strokes. She missed the boy.
"You guys bet?" Krillin witnessed the quips and found it too funny to not comment.
"Yes, I bet Mother would tell us apart, but young-me bet young-Gohan would tell us apart first," Trunks explained, and Tora winked at him without letting go of her younger friend.
"Told you so."
"Shit, I was wrong!" Bulma realized she'd picked that one and not her own son. Said son tackled her into a bear hug and whispered in her ear how much he had missed her and would absolutely roast her forever for mistaking for a younger version of him. Trunks would, perhaps one day, grill her even further by telling her that other Trunks was actually a girl, 'how could you have mistaken me for a girl?'
Trunks put his cap on his mother, revealing the shorter hair, enjoying the contact with his mother he'd longed for since his return from the dead.
"We both have the same beauty spots, Mother," he added in between tickles, not that hurt after all. His happiness of seeing her and touching her again was far more important than the hurt his pride could have felt for being mistaken for a similar version of himself.
One Tora and Gohan let each other go, Tora removed her own cap to let the hair free, then put it back on properly. She then fetched the watch she had put away in her pocket and tied it on her left wrist, since it was another element that distinguished them. Bulma had Trunks' watch, so Tora wearing hers would have been another giveaway. This confirmed once and for all who was who.
An hour later they were all back at the Compound and had removed their belongings from the Gravity Room, which was returned to Tora. The six of them chatted idly after enjoying a good dinner, Tora and Trunks showing the beauty mark on between their fingers as it had been what Bulma had used to try and differentiate the both of them. Everyone decided to spend the night, and go to the Lookout in the morning. The two Trunkses were in the kitchen preparing another mischief, having forbidden the others from entering.
"So how could you tell, Gohan?" Krillin was still shocked at the earlier display of wits.
"Their scars are different. And I think Tora-san fought more than Trunks-san, because of his time with Vegeta-san in the Room of Spirit and Time?"
"What scars?" Dende asked.
"You really can't see them?" Gohan was surprised when the other three shook their heads no.
Even now under artificial light, Bulma, Dende and Krillin didn't know what Gohan was talking about. He could see them even with the dusk light and the clear fields. Krillin mentioned he had never noticed any scars on Tora, and Bulma mentioned how her son didn't have scars either. Which made Gohan's comment even weirder; now they weren't on video, he was able to physically see them as much as he could see Krillin's forehead markings.
"And Tora-san and Trunks-san don't have the exact same scent," Gohan wondered why, perhaps it was the age difference, perhaps it was their different experiences, or perhaps it was because Tora smoked and Trunks had never done so. More likely a combination of all three.
Tora came out of the kitchen and cleared the table and then she shut down the light, interrupting the following questions when Trunks came out with a simple cake with candles on them.
"Gohan-san turned ten years old sometime during your trip to Namek, so Trunks and I decided it was a good excuse to try and make a chocolate cake," Tora explained as she put down smaller plates for dessert. The younger Brief was certain it was far from as good as the one the bakery had made for his ninth birthday, but at least the two of them wanted to do something nice for the boy who had destroyed the monster who killed them both.
And overwhelming the boy with attention was just an adorable side effect the two of them enjoyed as he tried protesting, it was August not May, but biologically, they were right, it had been his birthday in the spaceship. So Gohan eventually relented, blew the candles, accepted the cheers, and the cake promptly disappeared. It was simple but tasty, and the native Trunks was happy to remind his mother of her latest cake-disasters.
"Wait, didn't you turn twenty-one?" Krillin wondered.
"No, I was born in November. It's baby-me who was born in June. I stayed in the past only for a couple of weeks total, so my biological age is mostly the same as my calendar age. That clone of mine over there," he gestured towards Tora whose eyes narrowed on him, planning for a comeback for the jab at some point, "is the one with the messed up age."
"So you're from January 784, but you're already eighteen, right?" Bulma asked. She hadn't gotten the details, and now wanted to know exactly how old her alternate child was.
"That is correct. When I return to January 784, my calendar age will be seventeen and a little under two months, but my biological age will be closer to eighteen and a half."
".. How?" Dende was lost, none of this made sense, so Gohan pulled paper, ready to draw. The six of them moved from the dining table to the living room to be more comfortable. Bulma in her favorite armchair, Trunks busy cleaning the dishes as part of his lost bet, Dende and Krillin on the sofa, and Gohan and Tora on the floor, at the coffee table. Tora had retrieved her sword the moment they arrived and had kept it against her leg at the table, and now on her lap.
"Tora-san traveled to 764 in September 783." Gohan started to draw as he remembered the information.
"I was a little under two months away from turning seventeen years old," Tora added with a nod, appreciating how Gohan took over doing a chart for it to be clearer for everyone as she explained. After all, he'd seen her draw it in the plane before they found out about Trunks' Time Machine.
"And you stayed with us for a month," Gohan added.
"Twenty-two days, precisely. So I was sixteen and eleven months old, give or take a few days, when I came back to September 783. Only a couple of hours had passed in my home world. I turned eighteen in November 784, even if I was actually about three weeks older already. And in January 784, I traveled once more."
"This is where it gets messy," Trunks warned as he served everyone some tea, he had had such a hard time getting Tora's travels compared to his simpler ones.
"I arrived on May 12th, 767, and we left to come here on June 3rd 767." Tora explained as Gohan drew more lines. "But for me, those 23 days actually lasted.. One year and two months. I stayed in the Room of Spirit and Time one full calendar year with Vegeta-san, and about a month or so with Piccolo-san and Tenshinhan-san. And we've been here for a little under three months now."
"And we arrived here on June 1st 787." Krillin added the information he remembered as it was almost exactly a twenty-year jump.
"The Time Machine should be done charging by September 2nd," Trunks added.
"So that's an extra.. ninety days to add to my actual age." Tora added for Gohan.
"Seventeen and two months old, plus three weeks during your first stay with us, plus three weeks during your second stay, plus one year and a month in the Room of Spirit and Time, plus three months here.." Gohan jumped from one line to the other, and Tora confirmed the figure was indeed correct and accurate.
"Assuming we leave as soon as the Time Machine is done charging, and I go back home immediately afterwards, I will be eighteen and about seven months old. If the return procedure of my Time Machine works as planed, then I will return to January 784 about a year and a half older than I left it." Tora had no reason to believe her Time Machine' return procedure would fail, as it had worked once for her, and three times for Trunks'. This world's Bulma also indicated that she believed the Time Machine should take them to the world they left, as long as they returned to it at a later date than June 3rd 767.
"I am only physiologically about two weeks older than my calendar age, but I was dead for over a month, so now I'm actually younger than my calendar age," Trunks added his own situation, and Bulma elbowed him for talking so casually about his own death. They bickered a little with 'but it's true!' 'I lost you, Trunks, don't play with my old heart like that!'.
Dende was satisfied with the explanation, especially when the paper, confirmed by Tora as being accurate, was passed over to him. It was clearer. Gohan's existence as a child proved it all as factual already, but seeing two of the same person was even more jarring. Then again, remembering the wonders of Capsule Corp when he stayed over with all other Namekians so long ago, who other than Bulma Brief could invent such a thing?
"I am sorry Porunga couldn't do more, and we weren't aware of what has been happening here over the past years," Dende apologized, distraught as the reality of everyone being dead in this world pained him. Using the Dragon Balls to communicate with another planet would have been a misuse of their power, and the Namekians wanted peace.
"What is done is done, and now there are two worlds that are safe and sound, with Son-kun alive," Bulma reassured her friend with a warm smile. "I bet they're all happily training in Otherworld, too." Except Vegeta. And while Bulma and both Trunkses were aware that Vegeta probably ended up in hell, neither had ever said it out loud. Gohan agreed with the sentiment as he remembered his own father's parting words.
After Dende and Krillin called it a night, Gohan stayed to observe Bulma and the two Trunkses, perhaps with a little sorrow. He doubted his older self was happy leaving any of them behind, but he knew deep down, it was the best decision: protect his pupil, no matter what. That version of Gohan couldn't beat the Cyborgs, but Trunks playfully nudging his mother proved the sacrifice hadn't been in vain: peace had been achieved. It was the right decision, and Gohan saw how he would have done it all over again if he had been in his alternate self's shoes.
And perhaps, Goku's sacrifice was the same. Suddenly, the sorrow and loss made way to a brighter future for himself. 'There's nothing dishonorable with missing your father,' the words he was told twice already echoed. Yes, Gohan would always miss his father, but now he accepted it. And as he saw how Tora watched over Trunks and his mother, Gohan knew he had to let Tora go back to his world, destroy his Cyborgs, and finally get the peace he deserves. A year and a half separated from his home, his mother…
It was strange seeing one so restrained and the other so affectionate; truly, Tora was burning to get back home and be the same way with his mother. And since Tora had accepted Gohan being affectionate, and even sought it sometimes, Gohan was happy to hold his hand and stay close at the coffee table.
"It was worth it," Tora said with a fond smile looking over at the mother and son as they took care of the cups used for tea and lightly threw jabs at each other.
"I think so too, thanks to you, they were reunited."
"Thanks to you and Krillin-san too, you made sure she would remain safe, helped heal the planet and brought a new Guardian. I mostly stayed here and paced around."
"It was your idea, and you only could use the Time Machine, Tora-san."
"Perhaps," Tora didn't want to take credit, so she dismissed the subject.
"How does it feel, meeting yourself that isn't a baby?"
"Uncanny. But Saiyan instincts did not seem to care about our similarities."
"What do you mean?" Gohan slid under Tora's right arm, enjoying the peaceful nature of it all.
"Well the first thing I did was punch him, so there's that," Tora chuckled and Gohan should have been surprised, but wasn't. Piccolo, his father, and even Vegeta 'got to know each other' by fighting, so Tora was similar after all.
"Stupid Saiyan genes almost broke my jaw!" Trunks complained from afar.
"Operating word being 'almost', Trunks!" she replied with a more earnest laugh. "Should've dodged."
"Pfft, as if I could have. You're much faster than me." Trunks and Bulma sat at the coffee table too with some biscuits, and Tora snatched a couple with her right hand, one of which she handed to Gohan who took it with a grateful smile.
"Gohan-kun said he could see different scars on the both of you, but I can't. What's up with that?" Bulma eventually asked. The two Trunkses hadn't heard the conversation, and the older looked surprised. Tora didn't, though, it all rang a bell.
"I knew it," she whispered and nibbled on her biscuit.
"Cheater!" Trunks pointed an accusatory cookie at his counterpart and Tora pulled her tongue at him.
"I was just testing a theory. Gohan-san has Saiyan eyes, while we don't."
"Saiyan eyes?" Gohan asked, and Tora nodded.
"Vegeta-san told me he saw them, and you have a sharp eye-sight, so I thought you had the same trait. What do you see?" Tora showed her hands to Gohan once she finished her biscuit, and Gohan nodded, and after obtaining permission, traced some invisible marks on her hands and forearms.
"Tora-san has more scars here and here, and these he didn't have when I first met him, they're more recent. And these old ones, Trunks-san doesn't have."
As he demonstrated something that the other three couldn't see, Trunks got closer and showed his own hands, and Gohan indicated a few too.
"This one is the same, and this one is much more recent, but Tora-san doesn't have it. It's also more like the deep one Tenshinhan-san has here," Gohan said, indicating his torso, from his top right to his bottom left.
"Oh, I remember about that scar. That dirty cyborg-assassin guy did it to him with his knife-arm, when they fought during the Tournament, the one with Piccolo." Bulma nodded. She had a good memory for such terrible things, after all, some guy pulling a blade in a Martial Arts Tournament was enough of an event not to have been completely overshadowed by all of the other events of that day.
Tora heard it all, saw where Gohan had indicated, and quickly the Brief brain put two and two together. The scar Gohan indicated was caused by a blade and it was recent, so she knew its origin. She lifted her sword with her right hand.
"Trunks' reflex was to parry. Bad call."
"Trunks!" Bulma scolded the younger one, alarmed at the prospect of them fighting, but Trunks traced where he'd been cut, from the outer side of the hand to halfway to the elbow.
"It's fine, Mom, Trunks was training me," he spoke a little low, and patted her arms gently. "It was superficial," he reassured.
Bulma was about to complain and scold more about the recklessness, but Trunks looking down and all serious all of the sudden made her realize why. He wanted to get stronger so he wouldn't die again, so he wouldn't abandon his mother again.
"Stupid Saiyans," she sighed and let it go, but a gentle pat on her son's hand confirmed she understood and supported it in the end.
"Speaking of training, Gohan-san, tomorrow when we go to the Lookout, would you step in with us in the Room of Spirit and Time for a few minutes?"
Gohan gave it a thought, guessing why Tora was asking, and nodded to agree. He could use the work out too, since the light spars with Krillin and his trying to control his power in the spaceship had been dangerous. The Room of Spirit and Time was safe, and with Tora and Trunks there, they'd be ok.
"Thank you!" Trunks grinned, it was mostly for his benefit after all and he was curious to see it for himself. How far could a half-breed go, in terms of power? The Vegeta in him was excited.
"And what's with the sword? You've kept it secret until now and you do owe us the story," Bulma asked with a pointed look.
Tora checked her watch. Well past midnight already. She shook her head no. "Not tonight, the story is too long. Tomorrow before we go. It'll be useful for Dende to know it as well, considering the circumstances."
The four called it a night. August 29th was going to be a long day.
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You'll find the "drawing" Gohan made right here: tinyurl com /adbtimelines2
(I've also edited the previous chapter with the previous chart too, please check it out!)